Bag opener



June 18 1957 M. D. WILKINS ET AL 2,796,184

BAG OPENER Filed April 11, 1955 fivvavroes.

MAE/ON Due} NE. MILK/N6 Z2 KENNETH E J/VIITH av 7115/2 ATTO/YNEKZ. H4220; K/EC/J, .FbsTEQ Haze s 2,796,184 Patented June 18, 1957 BAG OPENER Marion Duane Wilkins, Wilmington, and Kenneth E. Smith, Long Beach, Calif., assignors to Turco Products, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application April 11, 1955, Serial No. 500,634

4 Claims. (Cl. 214-305) The present invention relates in general to bag opening and a primary object thereof is to provide a very simple device which will open and dump a bag automatically and which willraise a minimum of dust in the process in the event that the contents of the bag are of anature to create dust.

Another object is to provide abag opener which slices open virtually the entire underside of the bag and which supports the ends of the bag in elevated positions so that the bag is substantially instantaneously and substantially completely emptied.

Another object is to provide a bag opener which, while slicing open substantially the entire underside of the bag, will not open the upper side of the bag, thereby minimizing dust creation.

Another object is to cut the underside of the bag open in a pattern such as to form dust flaps tending to channel the contents of the bag to minimize dust creation.

With the foregoing construction, since virtually the entire underside of the bag is sliced open and the end portions of the bag are supported in elevated positions, the automatic emptying of the bag is so complete that shaking of the bag, manually, or otherwise, to insure complete dumping of the contents is unnecessary. The elimination of bag shaking to attain substantially complete emptying, particularly when coupled with so cutting the bag as to provide dust flaps, reduces dust creation to a minimum, which is an important feature of the invention.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for cutting open the underside of the bag which comprises a knife sloping upwardly to a central apex, supports for elevating the ends of the bag being located at the ends of the knife. Preferably, the knife is cruciform in plan, although other knife planforms, such as an H planform, may be used.

With this construction, when the bag to be opened is placed or dropped on the knife, the knife slices open the underside of the bag in such a pattern as to form flaps which drop downwardly to permit the contents of the bag to fall freely therefrom, aided by the supports for elevating the ends of the bag, and these flaps tend to channel the material into any suitable receptacle beneath the device to minimize dust creation. In other words, the flaps mentioned serve as dust shields or curtains, which is an important feature.

While the knife will slice open virtually the entire underside of the bag, by the time the bag moves downwardly far enough so that the upper side thereof comes in contact with the apex of the knife, the bag is almost completely emptied so that there is insufficient weight of material in the bag to cause the knife to penetrate the upper side of the bag. Thus, dust creation is further minimized, which is an important feature.

The foregoing objects, advantages and features of the present invention, together with various other objects, advantages and features thereof which will become apparent, may be attained with the exemplary embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in the accompanying drawing and which is described in detail hereinafter. Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bag opener which embodies the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the arrowed line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view taken along the arrowed line 3:3 of Fig. 1 of the drawing;

Fig. 4 is a plan view on a reduced scale of an alternative knife configuration; and

Fig. 5 is a longitudinalsectional view of the embodiment of Fig. 4, showing the alternative knife configuration mentioned in side elevation.

In Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing, the numeral 10 designates a supporting frame for a cruciform knife 12 which slopes upwardly to a central apex 14'. In the particular construction illustrated, the frame includes longitudinal rails. 16 and lateral rails 18 suitably connected together. The knife 12 includes longitudinal sections 20 which are suitably interconnected at the apex 14 and which slope downwardly to andare suitably connected to the lateral rails 18, respectively. The knife 12 also includes lateral sections 22 which are suitably connected at the apex 14 and which slope downwardly to and are suitably connected to the longitudinal rails 16. The knife sections 20 and 22 may be of any suitable cross section, an exemplary cross section being illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawing.

The longitudinal rails 16 of the knife-supporting frame 10 are suitably connected to posts 24 which carry transverse or lateral rails 26 at elevations above the frame 10 and above the lower ends of the knife sections 20 and 22.

Considering the operation of the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 3, a bag 28 is placed or dropped on the knife 12, which slices open the underside of the bag in a cruciform pattern along the lines 30, thereby forming flaps 32 which act as dust curtains in guiding the contents of the bag into a suitable hopper, or other receptacle, not shown. The rails 26 support the ends of the bag at an elevation well above the cruciform opening therein so as to insure substantially complete dumping of the contents of the bag without any necessity for subsequent shaking. By the time the bag 28 descends far enough to bring the apex 14 of the knife 12 into contact with the upper side of the bag, the bag has been lightened sufficiently to prevent cutting of the upper side thereof. Consequently, no dust can escape through the upper side of the bag.

Referring to Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawing, illustrated therein is an H-shaped knife 40 which slopes upwardly to a central apex 42. The knife 40 includes longitudinal sections 44 sloping downwardly from the apex 42 to and carried by the lateral rails 18. At or near the outer or lower ends of the longitudinal sections 44 are transverse or lateral sections 46 supported in any suitable manner, as, for example, by being welded to the longitudinal sections. Thus, a generally H-shaped planform results. The knife 40 will cut open the underside of a bag in an H-shaped pattern to form dust flaps in much the same manner as the knife 12. The mode of operation with the knife 40 is similar to that with the knife 12 so that a detailed description is unnecessary.

Although we have disclosed an exemplary embodiment of our invention herein for purposes of illustration, it will be understood that various changes, modifications and substitutions may be incorporated in such embodiment without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the claims allowed to us and appearing hereafter.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a bag opener, the combination of: a stationary frame; two bag supports on said frame and spacedapart a distance approaching but less than the length of a bag to be opened so that they support end portions of such bag when it is placed thereon in a generally horizontal position; and a knife fixed on said frame between said supports and extending substantially from one of said supports to the other and engageable with one side of a bag placed on said supports to open same, said knife including intersecting cutting elements disposed at angles to each other when viewed from above and being the only structure present in at least the major portion of the space between said bag supports so that when said intersecting cutting elements of said knife cut said one side of the bag, flaps are formed which drop downwardly into the space between said bag supports to dump the contents of the bag.

2. In a bag opener, the combination of: a frame; two bag supports on said frame and spaced apart a distance less than the length of a bag to be opened so that they support end portions of such bag when it is placed thereon in a generally horizontal position; and a knife fixed on said frame and extending substantially from one of said supports to the other, said knife extending upwardly from lower levels adjacent and below said supports to an upper level intermediate and above said supports, whereby said knife automatically engages the underside of a bag placed on said supports to open same.

3. A bag opener as defined in claim 2 wherein said knife slopes upwardly toa central apex and is cruciform in plan, said knife consisting solely of knife elements radiating from said apex.

4. A bag opener according to claim 2 wherein said knife slopes upwardly to a central apex and is H-shaped in plan, said knife consisting solely oftwo longitudinal knife elements radiating from said apex and transverse knife elements perpendicular to said longitudinal knife elements and adjacent said supports.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,031,869 Trouth Feb. 25, 1936 2,082,922 Vitek June 8, 1937 2,094,818 Rich et a1. Oct. 5, 1937 2,306,426 Bundy Dec. 29, 1942 2,720,698 Cotfman Oct. 18, 1955 

